Monday, January 23, 2012

Challenge of the Super Friends, Episode 2

The Legion of Doom, having escaped capture by the Super Friends after sending them into space, is back with another nefarious plan!

In the Legion of Doom's headquarters, Captain Cold announces a plan--he has been talking to a race of Venusian invaders called The Fearians, who want to conquer Earth but are willing to strike a deal:

The Venusians need Earth to be more environmentally hospitable, so they ask the LOD to do the deed. In return, after the Fearians take over, they will hand over complete control of the planet's human population to Legion of Doom!

Step One of this plan involves Captain Cold. After freezing large parts of the planet, he of course draws the attention of The Flash. After failing to capture Cold, The Flash takes to unfreezing the world's cities:

But The Flash does not factor in all the steam he's creating by doing so, which raises the temperature of the entire planet! And this guy's a scientist?

Step Two involves Black Manta, and follows the same formula: he draws Aquaman into combat, and seemingly easily loses the fight, only to escape:

Manta has set massive fires all over Earth's coast cities, so Aquaman has his finny friends create huge tidal waves to put them out. But they do the job too well: the waves flood all the cities, covering populated areas in water!

Aquaman communicates what has happened to the rest of the Super Friends:

Batman announces a plan, but he is interrupted by yet another disaster, this one the work of Sinestro.

I think you can guess what happens: Green Lantern shows up, and ends up making the Earth's environmental problem worse in his attempt to stop Sinestro. By this point, the Earth is now more humid, more tropical, and more of its surface is covered in water! Time for the Fearians!

The Fearians invade, and their leader stops by the Hall of Justice. They (he? it?) encases the heroes in an unbreakable bubble, allowing the Fearians time to change the planet even more.

Green Lantern uses his power ring to trick The Fearians into thinking they've escaped, which draws them back. They accidentally free the Super Friends, who then turn around and and defeat The Fearians. Problem solved!

Oh, wait--there's still the ecological disaster, and the Legion of Doom, who have taken up in Capitol Hill (insert political joke here). Soon, they find themselves face-to-face with the Super Friends!

Once again, they are defeated:

...we don't see how Manta ended up face down like that, gosh darn it.

Anyway, also once again Lex Luthor is one step ahead, and manages to escape with all his villainous pals back to their hideout, leaving the Super Friends to issue yet another firm but-not-quite-as-convincing warning that they will be watching:

...not The End!

The Fearians' plan is not well thought-out, despite each Fearian having (presumably) three brains each. Also, the Legion of Doom didn't think this through much either: do they really think a horde of invading aliens is just going to hand the planet over? C'mon, guys.

This episode opens with a touch of character detail that would become a hallmark of the show: the members of the Legion of Doom are always within a hair's breadth of fighting with one another. After all, what do people like Bizarro and The Scarecrow have to talk about, really?

Aquaman's presence this time around is much more significant than the last episode (it would have to be), and even though he falls into the same dumb trap, I never tire of seeing him tussle with Black Manta.This episode's Aqua-Content: Medium